Lucas Goes Back-to-Back at City Am

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Hard to believe it’s Labor Day weekend, though this stretch of early fall weather is making it feel a bit more real. In this week’s 2DP, we’re filling the pre-Ryder Cup golf lull with our full wrap-up from last weekend’s Charlotte City Am, where we spoke with both the champion and runner-up to get all the details on what was an awesome tournament. Safe travels this weekend and we hope you’ve enjoyed our coverage of the 2025 City Am!

CHARLOTTE CITY AM

Pearse Lucas Outlasts Jake McGlone for 4-Shot Win, 2nd Consecutive City Am Title

Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap | Final Leaderboard

Another great Charlotte City Amateur is in the books! 3 days of great weather and exciting play culminated with a back 9 duel at Quail Hollow - huge shoutout to Braxton McLennan, Chip Hunter, and everyone else involved in making this year’s tournament a success.

The 2025 City Am will be remembered for 3 stand-out performances, as each round saw a player go low to post the round of the day and jump into the lead. In the opening round at Raintree Country Club’s South Course, 2018 North Carolina Mid-Amateur Champion Matt Kilgo posted a bogey-free 65 (-7) on his home course to grab the headlines. Kilgo hung around on Saturday and landed a Sunday tee time in the final group, but a final round 77 (+5) saw him slide to an 8th-place finish.

On Saturday at Myers Park Country Club, Jake McGlone stole the show with a 6-under 65, shooting up the leaderboard to snag the 36-hole lead. “Myers Park was a dream day,” said McGlone of the performance. “It’s a great layout - I think it’s one of the most underrated in Charlotte.”

McGlone got off to a hot start start in round 2, making 4 birdies in a row on the front 9 to go out in 32. After a great iron shot at the par 3 5th, he hit both the front 9 par 5s (holes 6 and 8) in 2 and sandwiched in another birdie at the 7th, where he pulled an iron “30-feet left of where [he] was looking” to end up 3 feet from a pin tucked against the pond. “I was hitting it great, and I don’t think I missed a putt inside 15 feet all day,” he added.

The round wasn’t without blemishes - in fact, a back 9 bogey proved to be the catalyst for a strong finish. “The highlight of the day was 15. I hit it way left and chunked my chip short, then got up-and-down for bogey. I could have easily made a double.” McGlone went on to make a pair of bounce-back birdies at 16 and 17 to regain momentum, before closing the round with a strong par at the ~500 yard par 4 18th.

While others were getting most of the early-tournament attention, defending champion Pearse Lucas was hanging around and positioning himself for a charge. His excellent 67 (-5) in round 1 (his 1st time ever playing Raintree South) was overshadowed by Kilgo’s performance, and a steady 71 (E) at MPCC left him 2 shots back of McGlone entering Sunday’s round. Despite not yet breaching the top of the leaderboard, Lucas was confident in his ability to perform on the biggest stage. “I knew that Quail was going to be a tough test, but my ball striking felt good all week and I knew I could go out there and post a good round,” said Lucas of his mindset headed into the final day.

McGlone, who worked at Quail Hollow for a year after college, admitted to feeling some jitters holding the 36-hole lead in the event he considers his personal major. “It’s a weird feeling having a lead,” he said. “I was way back after the 1st round, so you’re just trying to go as low as you can, but then you get a lead and almost put it in neutral mentally.”

Despite any early nerves, the 2 contenders settled in to play solid front 9s and make the turn tied at -7. Lucas birdied the par 5 10th to jump into the lead, but McGlone, who hit his 2nd shot over the green, promptly chipped in for eagle to regain a 1-shot advantage. While both stumbled at the 12th, it was Lucas who rebounded to capitalize on the scorable 14th and 15th, holing birdie putts from just inside 10 feet on both holes to reach -9. McGlone, who had fought valiantly to back up his Saturday 65, was not able to match scores with Lucas through the middle of the back 9, and found himself in the unenviable position of chasing birdies around the notoriously stingy Green Mile.

While his lead had grown to a likely insurmountable margin, Lucas was none the wiser, as he decided to abstain from leaderboard-watching down the stretch. “I checked [the scores] through 14 for the last time, so coming down 18, I had no idea,” said Lucas. “I think that helped keep the pressure on me to execute.”

Textbook 2-putt pars at 16, 17, and 18 saw Lucas finish at -9 to secure his 2nd consecutive Charlotte City Amateur title. Lucas, who also finished T3 in this summer’s Carolinas Open at Cedarwood, will be attending Emory University this fall, where he will be using his final year of eligibility to play on the golf team while he completes a Master’s of Finance.

For McGlone, a pair of late bogeys saw him drop to -5 and a runner-up finish, his 2nd City Am close-call in a 3-year period. Despite the near-misses, he’s taking solace in the state of his game and is looking to last weekend’s prominent professional golf breakthrough as a source of inspiration. “I’d like to win something - that’s for sure. It’s convenient that [Tommy] Fleetwood is doing what he’s doing. I’m keeping that in the back of my mind - what a great attitude that guy has had through all his defeats. Maybe we’ll get one eventually, and even if we don’t, I’m playing great.”

Huge shoutout to both Pearse and Jake for the time and congrats again on the great performances! Thanks for following along and we’ll see everyone at the 2026 Charlotte City Amateur.

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